News

Astronomers have observed a new dark spot on Neptune that’s affectionately being called Dark Spot Jr. While the Hubble Space Telescope-observed transient dark spot may be adorable from afar, The New York Times describes the treacherous nature of Neptune’s latest mini storm viewed from space.

Sierra Nevada Corporation, maker of the mini-shuttle-esque Dream Chaser spacecraft, is targeting Washington D.C. Metro system travelers in an advertising campaign focused on the Pentagon.

Earlier this week we saw the first installation of a commercially developed airlock from Nanoracks on the International Space Station. Now CNBC reports that Voyager Space Holdings will acquire the company behind the Bishop Airlock.

Popular App Store developer Iconfactory has just released a new app called Waterscope Weather. However, this isn’t your typical weather app; as the developer puts it, it’s a “weather app designed for people who love being around water.”

In the early 60s, the Cold War was intensifying between the United States and the Soviet Union. Because of rising tensions between the two superpowers, the threat of a nuclear war was a genuine concern for both sides. So naturally, spying and reconnaissance became valuable tactics.

A large majority of the terrain on Mars is rather challenging to traverse, especially for our delicate and slow-moving rovers. Because of this fact, NASA/JPL-Caltech has been hard at work creating what may be the future of Mars exploration: an autonomous robot dog.

A few days ago, word got out that researchers at Breakthrough Listen, a group hunting for alien civilizations, had detected a mysterious radio signal. The signal originated from Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Sun, and it has been designated as a possible alien transmission.

The European Space Agency is developing a low Earth orbit transportation system called Space Rider, and this month plans for the reusable spacecraft have started to come together. ESA describes the future system as an “uncrewed robotic laboratory about the size of two minivans” that will launch on a Vega C rocket and stay in orbit for up to two months.

Last night China launched its Long March 8 rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the island of Hainan in the South China Sea. This was the rocket’s maiden flight with the goal to make China’s launch services program more appealing to outside customers and in the future compete with SpaceX on reusability.

The countdown to Mars kicked off earlier this year on July 30 when NASA’s Perseverance rover blasted off on a ULA Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA’s newest Martian rover will arrive in less than two months on February 18 to begin its search for signs of ancient life on the Red Planet.

SpaceX is rapidly sending batches of internet satellites to orbit as the company builds its Starlink broadband service. With over 900 operational satellites already in space, Starlink internet service reached public beta in October. Service is expected to reach many more markets over the next year, and a massive FCC investment will certainly help speed up the rollout.

Science YouTuber Scott Manley sat down with Rocket Lab CEO to talk about their year of launches while playing the popular space simulation game Kerbal Space Program.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a sizeable next-generation space telescope set to be launched sometime in 2021. As the launch window approaches, the telescope has gone through a series of tests to ensure its space readiness. The most recent of those tests involved unfolding the telescope’s sunshield.

While delivery of new methane powered engines for United Launch Alliance was expected to occur this year, Blue Origin pushed back the delivery date to next year due to more time needed to solve issues with the engine’s turbo pump.

Solid state batteries are considered the “holy grail” of technology for electric vehicles, but it has been hard to development on a large enough scale to be viable. Solid Power in Colorado is attempting to change that.

A couple of weeks ago, NASA announced a cadre of astronauts selected to participate in the agency’s Artemis program. Those same astronauts will now get the opportunity to test out the Orion spacecraft hardware with a new simulator that recently arrived at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Launch of the Apollo 8 mission (December 21, 1968)

On the morning of December 21, 1968, a 36-story-tall Saturn V rocket towered over Cape Kennedy, now known as Cape Canaveral. Thousands of onlookers gathered to view the historic event on the nearby beaches. Sitting atop the lumbering Saturn V was the Apollo 8 spacecraft, ready to carry the first humans around the moon.

NASA has released tips for how to take photos of the Christmas Star, otherwise known as the Jupiter and Saturn “Great Conjunction”, tonight as it reaches its peak for how close they will appear.

After a few weeks of trial and error, NASA says it has completed the wet dress rehearsal test step for the core stage of Space Launch System, the agency’s rocket to the Moon and beyond. This is the final step before NASA and Boeing engineers fire the core stage in place for eight minutes to collect data.

Victor Glover, a NASA astronaut and current resident of the International Space Station, spent time taking questions from students about training to be an astronaut and what it is like living and working in space.